I have arrived in Ireland!

I have arrived in Galway, Ireland, where I will be spending the summer! I am still a bit jetlagged from Japan and adding another couple of hours time difference is not helping. But, so far I am loving Galway. My apartment is great and the city is just lovely. The weather has been amazing- 80s and sunny. Apparently this type of weather never lasts so I am sure the rain will start soon enough. This afternoon I took a long walk all over the city- from my apartment, through the University, down to the Salthill Promenade and back up through Eyre Square.

Lots of little shops and tons of people

Colorful houses

By Salthill

The weather is lovely and so blue!

By the Cathedral

And..... in keeping with the tradition started in Tokyo, here is a tour of my fabulous apartment- about 5 times the size of my Tokyo apartment at 1/3 the price... such is life!

Kanazawa, for one last horrah!

This little city called Kanazawa somehow stole my heart. I love it there and I miss it a lot. I have been lucky enough to be able to visit a few times and my last trip was this weekend. Last weekend in Japan, last weekend in Kanazawa. I got to see all of my favorite people and places. Here are some snapshots:
Nakagawa Sensei in front of Mori Mori Sushi, where we went for dinner on Friday
Caroline and I ate jellyfish on Saturday!

Fiona, Caroline, Me and Travis
Out with our new friends
On our way to .... somewhere!
Delicious pizza!
Yum!
A cable car ride up the side of the mountain. Caroline was not pleased....



High School Sumo Tournament
These are high school kids.
Fizzle might need to hone her ohashi skills

Kenrokuen Garden

Tokyo Edo Museum with my coworkers!

Last week two of my lovely coworkers took me to the Tokyo Edo Museum to see some old Japanese architecture.
Before the museum we went for ramen. We each got a ramen set which came with a bowl of ramen, a rice bowl with meat, and soup. I ate the rice bowl and a little bit of soup- it was a lot of food! But Ms. Hara, the smallest Japanese woman that I have ever seen, ate her rice bowl, her soup, her ramen AND my ramen. It was during this meal that I taught her the term "hollow leg".
Ms. Kouno and Ms. Hara
Trying to balance in high heels
The three of us
Me

Odaiba!

John and I went to David's to watch the video from our trip. When we were waiting for a cab to the station, this ENORMOUS Cadillac appeared. John, a car lover, gave the guy a thumbs up and the cowboy hat wearing man behind the wheel reciprocated. We continued to wait for a cab with none in sight. Then, appearing like an Asian mirage (see American things appearing like Asian mirages in Singapore and for Lacie in Nikko) was our friend again. He pulled over and asked where we were going. His name was Charlie (I am pretty sure that it wasn't being that he was Japanese and all and there isn't really an L in Japaese) and he offered us a ride to the station. We hopped in (sorry Dad! I know I am not supposed to hitch rides with strangers but I figured getting in a Cadillac with 70 year old Charlie and 2 male friends would be ok) and I listened to John pepper the man with questions during the 7 minute ride to the station. How random!

Charlie and John

David and I continued to Odaiba while John baled to go home. In his defense, we was carrying home approximately all of the contents of David's apartment as David was moving out 2 days later. And John just could not let that half empty bottle of soy sauce go to waste.

I have wanted to go to Odaiba ever since I heard that they had the world's ninth largest ferris wheel. Odaiba had been described to me as a place to shop and eat but it was so much better than that! We took a monorail to get there and then watched the sunset over the Tokyo skyline. We walked in the water a bit and rode the ferris wheel. It was awesome!!! So pretty!!!

Sunset over Tokyo and the Rainbow Bridge

David tries to catch the jumping fish on his cameraMe and the lovely view

Once the sun set the view was even better with the boats lit up and the bridge turning all different colors

Sky Wheel!

The Elusive Mito

On the last day of our trip, we woke up early to have breakfast at our favorite, Ibuki Restaurant, and then get on the road, finally bound for Mito.... again.... I will cut to the punchline as I know you are all waiting with bated breath. We did NOT make it to Mito. I will probably never know whether Mito's garden is one of the nicest in Japan. It was just not in the cards for us. However, we did find some fun stuff along the way so not all was lost.

After taking some daytime photos at our favorite spot, we hit the road. We continued to take the back roads instead of the highway and ended up coming across a lovely little lighthouse. There was a little memorial to a Japanese singer who had written a song about the area. When you got close to the statute, the song began to play. So, naturally, John decided this would be the perfect time for an impromptu dance lesson. Our rumba-ing inspired some of the other Japanese people in the area to shake a leg a little and let the music fill them.

Heart shaped eggs, buttery toast, coffee and a seaside view

All of us

Shrine on the backside of the rock

Tori, Rock and Bridge

Rocks
Lighthouse

David captures us dancing when he climbs up to the lighthouse.

What a great trip, what great friends!

Along the way, we wrote a lot of poems together but some of my favorites are from the day that we returned to Tokyo and sent each other text messages while John and I were at work, Vicki was waiting for her flight back to the US and David was helping Vicki.

This one is by David:

Tokyo dreams

Moonless nights spent contemplating changes

No answers forthcoming

I looked everywhere else to find that even without some place to return home

I was welcome in the hearts of friends all around the globe.

We saw nothing, We did everything!

Our goal leaving Sendai was to drive down the coast until we got to Mito about 2 hours away on the highway. We knew it would take a little longer because we were taking backroad instead of the highway. Mito is home to one of the third most beautiful gardens in Japan. I would not know though because we never made it there....

Our plan was to stop when we were hungry or saw something interesting. We also planned to visit a cave that Vicki had seen on the map but that didn't end up happening either. The best laid plans of mice and men.....

Along the way, we came upon this lovely, near deserted beach.
Perfect time for a group photo: John, Me, Vicki and David

This also seemed like the perfect time to try one of those cool jumping shots that seems to be so popular with the kiddies these days.

We tried.....

But we never succeeded in catching all of us mid air.

Back in the car we went, having already abandoned the idea of visiting the cave. Mito, here we come!
But then we came across what might be the COOLEST playground that you have ever seen in your life. The photo does not do it justice- this slide was the longest slide that I have ever seen and really REALLY fun.

Trampoline

After taking our turns on the slide, we hopped over to the trampoline. Picture it: Sleepy countryside Japanese town, quiet playground, invaded by FOUR ENORMOUS foreigners! We were the hit of the whole place! I have so many 4 year old Japanese friends now. And everytime John bounced, the shock waves catapulted hordes of children into the air. The smallest kids just laid on the ground as the vibrations from us bouncing was enough to send them airborn!

Last but not least was the ropey climby thing. There is NO WAY this playground equipment would be allowed in the US.

Once we had thoroughly exhausted ourselves sliding, bouncing and climbing, we got back in the car to finish our drive to Mito.

But wait! After a few minutes of driving, we came across this pebble beach with some lovely rock formations and a little red tori gate out in the water. We had to stop for this- this IS Japan. We take a walk along the beach, OUR beach, because there is not another person in sight. We decide to nix the Mito plan and try to stay there for the night. John, the frightfully fluent foreigner, goes into Ibuki restaurant for a hotel recommendation and ends up calling the hotel next door. "Gaijin wa chottoooooo......" the lady on the other end of the phone says. (Which basically means "Foreigners are...wellll" read: PROHIBITED.) "Why?"
John asks in his crazy direct foreigner way. The lady says she will ask her supervisor and call back. When she calls back a few minutes later she says that there is indeed room and that we are welcomed. (I should hope so, I think we were the only ones in the hotel that night.) We check in and then were off to Ibuki to patronize the restaurant that helped us.

Our beach

Searching for the perfect pebble
This picture does not do it justice.

Beach

Nighttime

Nighttime
Out on the rocks

Back in Sendai, we had had a plan to roast marshmallows on the beach in Mito. We found a foreign food store and stocked up on chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. At dinner we asked Mr. Ibuki where we could get some firewood. He scurried into the back of the restaurant and brought out some firewood for us! We invited him and the other people in the restaurant down to beach to enjoy some smores with us. Mr. Ibuki was not able to go but there was a brother and sister eating in the restaurant who decided to join us. Turns out the girl works at the hotel where we are staying. So basically an hour ago, we were not allowed to stay in the hotel because we are foreigners and now she is joining us on the beach for smores. Internationalization at its best! The next group of foreigners who want to stay there can thank us for breaking down barriers. I felt like a pioneer.

We head to the convenience store to pick up supplies. I suggest purchasing some matches- crazy thought since we plan to start a fire. No no, John and David assure me that we will be able to start a fire with this knife, flint, a set of keys, a pair of socks and bar of soap that they have. I don't really see McGuiver anywhere in the vicinity but I go along with it.

John tries hard. David tries hard. In the end, amazingly, they are unable to start a fire with these tools and one of our guests heads into the hotel to get some matches.

Toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate

Group shot

Mmmm smores!

*** Some of these photos are also from David and Vicki.